Embassy chef Gilles Quillot visits The Clink restaurant

The Ambassador’s chef Gilles Quillot hosts a masterclass at The Clink restaurant in Brixton Prison

16 March 2016

The Ambassador’s chef Gilles Quillot has hosted a cooking masterclass within Brixton Prison for chefs at The Clink restaurant, a charity project where inmates cook and serve food to paying outside customers.

Mr Quillot was invited to the prison ahead of the annual celebration of French gastronomy Goût de France / Good France in which The Clink restaurant will participate.

The Clink Charity operates Clink Restaurants in partnership with Her Majesty’s Prison Service and provides accredited food preparation GNVQs to inmates with the aim of producing 500 graduates a year by the end of 2017 into an industry which suffers from a skills shortage.

The first Clink Charity restaurant opened at HMP High Down in Surrey in 2009, and was followed by others in Cardiff, Cheshire and London.

Mr Quillot said: "It was great to see these guys give everything to the masterclass. Their attitude was exceptional.

"I told them that to be a chef you have to like pleasing others because that’s what being a chef is all about: taking pleasure in serving people great food, and having a genuine passion and dedication to the work."